Communication Tool: Wetpaint

Group Members: Gina Fink, Amanda Franklin, Amber

Screenshot

external image Wet%20Paint%20logo_350.jpg

Brief introduction of the tool

Wetpaint is a free tool anyone can use to create a website and connect with others. It is a way to not only keep in touch with those close to you, but also to find others who share similar interests as you. It combines many of the other tools you may be familiar with. There are wikis, blogs, forums, and a communication site all in one! Anyone can create their own site and make it open to others so they can add it to it, allowing you to create your very own social network.

Advantages of the tool

1. A great tool to help you meet other people who share similar interests or passions as you do.
2. You don't even have to create your own web page. You can just add to the pages of others.
3. It can be as private as you want or as open as you would like it to be.
4. Not just for communication! Enjoy yourself and play games, read about your favorite artists, television shows, businesses and more!
5. Used for fun, business or professional purposes.

Disadvantages (limitations) of the tool

1. You don't have full control of the website you create, since you are using the pre established settings on wetpaint.com
2. If the page allows others to edit it, some people might include information that is not accurate or unwanted

Application of the tool in your subject area

Teachers have said:
"Since the launch of Wetpaint, we've heard from several classrooms that have benefited greatly by using Wetpaint to collaborate and share information outside the classroom," said Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint."

"Wetpaint has helped me integrate the Web 2.0 technologies my students love to use in their personal life into their learning process, and now they are actually excited about working on coursework," says Jason Welker, an AP Economics teacher at the Shanghai American School in China who started a wiki, Welker's Wikinomics, for his class. "My students have fully embraced the wiki by engaging in peer-to-peer and student-to-teacher collaboration on a broad range of topics from tests, study guides, and other important classroom initiatives that further their learning potential."

Wetpaint could be used in an Art classroom as a collaborative project in which each student is required to add content about a certain topic, for example Non-Western Art history. Each student could contribute pictures of works that embody one country in this category to create a site dedicated to Non-Western Art history. Students could post ideas to help each other develop and explore these countries, and they could create games, stories, videos etc that involve art history/

Resources for using Wetpaint in the classroom:
http://iisorkr.wetpaint.com/